I
should start by commending Moral Initiative of Nigeria (MIN) for this
thoughtful step towards reminding our nation of the imperatives of its moral
foundation at a point when we are being prepared to exercise choices over
leaders and parties, I am also grateful to Professor Ango Abdullahi, Magajin
Rafin Zazzanu, who, in his characteristic fatherly manner, assigned us
responsibilities for participation in this programme. May God bless your
intentions and the outcome of this event.
It may be a matter of deliberate choice that Moral Initiative of Nigeria left
much of the choice on focus and substance in our contributions to us. I have
noted that the Initiative identified the need to raise awareness around
immorality and the promotion of peace and love among Nigerians as its main
motives for organizing this event.
I have chosen to address the place of leadership as the foundation of any
people’s moral standards, and in this context, I will share with you my humble
thoughts on issues that we need to pay close attention to as a nation if we
will begin to turn the tide again moral decay, the drift towards anarchy and
the descent into the nightmare of the rule of terror, evil and violence.
There
is no value in discussing issues of morality, systems and processes, legal
system, policies and programmes and development in a nation such as ours
without acknowledging that we are fundamentally a people of faith. What this
means is that all Nigerians believe that we are accountable to a power greater
than us, Who has designed the basic elements of our social existence and to
Whom we are accountable. Please note that my definition here is universally
applicable to us all, irrespective of the nature of our faith or how you
exercise it.
How
then does a nation of people who accept the validity of a Being that delineates
good from evil and right from wrong also seem to tolerate the ignominy of being
one of the most corrupt nations on earth; a nation that consigns a huge
percentage of its population to the rungs of the poorest in the world, and one
where the value of human life is virtually non- existent?
A
liberal democratic system cannot effectively function without some core values
that must be protected at all cost by those who have the authority and
responsibility to do so. These persons must also be accountable to, for their
success or failure in this task. These core values are spelt out in our
constitution, and our leaders are made to swear with divine words of God in the
Quran or Bible that they will defend and protect them. Few people care to
recognize the irony that we invoke God to protect and defend a secular
constitution. Ordinarily, there will be little problem with this. If leaders
break our oaths, and the secular system works, they will be held to account. In
addition, the God in whose name we swear to defend the constitution will hold
us to account, if not in this world, then in the next one.
The
problem appears that our faith is weakest when applied to public matters, such
that issues of personal integrity of leaders, doing justice, being accountable,
compassionate and fair are rarely measured by leaders within the rigorous
and demanding contexts of God’s laws and injunctions. The system makes it so
much easier to offend and violate the constitution, and leaders feel that in
exercise of political mandates and/or official responsibilities, God’s wrath is
easily assuaged with prayers for forgiveness. In the worst cases, leaders in
secular constitutional systems behave as if nothing they do or refuse to do has
anything to do with God. Responsibilities of leaders to, and for, followers is
seldom treated in religious contests, and secular laws are abused with such
impunity that they may well not exist. Democracy as a system rests on the
assumption that citizens as voters will exercise powers to distinguish bad from
good, leaders and despots from democrats, and also exercise their power
to vote them in or out of power. When, however, wealth and power become the
main sources of wealth and power, the democratic system becomes a farce, a
charade that merely re-cycles the wealthy and corrupt in leadership positions.
The
greatest failing of our leaders who are entrusted with power through our votes
is their inability to do justice. Shehu Usman Dan Fadio said, “A kingdom can
endure with unbelief, but not with injustice”. (1) The injustice of the leader
begins with injustice to himself: he fails to live by the demanding standards
which leading people place on him. Leadership is a most onerous and frightening
burden and those who lead without full congnisance of its implications do great
dissersive to themselves. On the Day of Judgment leaders of men and women will
be held to account for every action or inaction over which their positions of
responsibility hold them accountable. Injustice breeds disrespect, contempt,
insecurity, anarchy and corruption as followers lose faith in unjust leaders
who corrupt the ethical and legal basis of their positions.
A
leader who fails the test to be just to himself and his responsibility is most
unlikely to be just to the people he leads. The descent from the challenging
heights of personal discipline and piety to the lowest levels of impunity and
corruption is certain and limitless. Arbitrariness takes the place of due
process and rule of law; arrogance and contempt for the poor, the powerless and
the weak take the place of compassion and humility; corruption and abuse of
office replace personal integrity and honesty while the interests of the leader
become elevated above the interest of the people. Advisers become psychophants
and courtiers; loyalty is demanded in place of respect and the leader is
elevated to the position of one to be served, rather than the servant(2).
In
the next few weeks, we will be called up to debate, argue and even fight over
who will exercise responsibility over us in the 2019 elections. These elections
represent an important turning point in terms of whether our lives as citizens,
our communities, our values and our nation will continue to deteriorate, or improve.
What will determine the direction we move is a template we should adopt in
interrogating our choices as Muslims, Christians and Citizens, and the
templates we will apply against those who ask us to trust them with
responsibility for our security, economic welfare and the protection of our key
values.
As
citizens, we should apply against ourselves demanding responsibilities in
judging politicians. We should ask, to the limits of our understanding and
knowledge, these questions among others:
i)
Am I convinced that the person who wants my vote fears God and
will seek His favour in leading me?
ii)
Am I convinced he wants to lead me as service to me, rather than a
means to acquire power and wealth for himself?
iii)
Am I convinced that he can lead with knowledge, experience,
compassion and justice?
iv)
Am I convinced that he is honest, and will not convert what is
public to his private use?
v)
Am I convinced that he is the best among those asking for my vote,
and that I am not voting for him for purely ethno-religious, or regional
sentiments?
vi)
Can I trust him with my life, my assets, my welfare, my family and
community and my future?
vii)
Can I fight to defend his mandate because it is the expression of
the will of the people and not a stolen mandate?
viii)
Do I believe that I can respect him through his tenure because he
has remained steadfast in the pursuit of honest service, humble and
God-fearing?
ix)
Am I convinced that he will make my children’s future brighter or
worse?
We
should also demand from all politicians who will ask for our trust and
confidence in 2019 that they answer the following questions first before asking
for our votes:
i)
Am I aware of the heavy burden that God will place upon my
shoulders if I assume a leadership position?
ii)
Am I satisfied that I posses the required religious, moral,
ethical and other personal qualities to lead as God wills and as demanded by
the constitution?
iii)
Am I sure I want to serve, not to be served?
iv)
Am I honest enough to resist the temptation to be corrupt?
v)
m I the best in terms of education, experience and personal
disposition among those competing with me?
vi)
Am I healthy enough to shoulder the burden of leadership?
vii)
Will my children be proud or ashamed of me at the end of my term?
viii)
Will God be pleased with me?
As a people, we must use the next elections to
create a real beginning for genuine change. Very few of the people asking for
our votes today are ready to change the system in such a way that it will
resist abuse, impunity and corruption. With our votes, we should say that we
are tired of lip service to fighting corruption and insecurity. No one should
be trusted with a mandate of any type unless he or she demonstrates a knowledge
of our problems, a willingness to tackle them, and a commitment to account for
failures. Those who want our votes must convince us that they know how to make
our laws less vulnerable to subversion, including subversion by themselves. God
will punish those who abuse our trust, but He can choose whether to punish them
here, in the hereafter, or both. We have faith in Him, but we
should make our system good enough to punish those who abuse our trust in this
world, so that they serve as example to others that our rights to be led by
honest, competent people should not be treated as luxury. If leaders will not improve
our laws to eliminate or mitigate impunity and corruption, we should invoke the
powers of the Almighty and pray that He keeps those who will abuse our trust or
abandon us to fears and hopelessness away from power. The ideal thing of course
is to both pray and insist on putting only the most God-fearing and the best
people in positions of trust.
I
thank you once again for the opportunity to participate in this event.
REFERENCE
(i)
Shehu Usman, Bayan Wujuls al-bijra ala al-ibad, 1221 – 1806,
Quoted in Mahmud Tukur, Leadership and Governance in Nigeria: the
Relevance of Values, Hudahuda/Hodder & Stonghton, 1999, p22
(ii)
Dr Mahmud Tuhurs’ Leadership and Governace in Nigeria (Ibid) is
an excellent book on the central place of values in governance. Usman Bugaje
(ed) Muslims and the Nigerian Political space Books and
Libraries, Abuja, 2016 is also a useful book on contemporary situation of
Muslims and the Nigerian state.
